According to the
Wall Street Journal's Mark Magnier, a World Bank spokesperson
said staff in the Washington headquarters instructed that the
references be deleted. The spokesperson did not know whether it
was because Chinese officials took issue.

An earlier version of the
'China
Economic Update' said: "The state has formal ownership of 65 percent
of commercial bank assets and de facto control of 95 percent of
these assets, making it an outlier by international
standards."

The update
had also warned about "wasteful investment, overindebtedness, and
a weakly regulated shadow-banking system," according to
AFP.

In a story on the original version of the World Bank's
report, AFP
noted that the bank's comments were "unusually
forthright."

According to the Journal, Bert Hofman, the World Bank's China
country director, said the section was removed because its tone
was inconsistent with its "standard of discourse with member
governments."

On Saturday, Chinese government officials took further steps to
try and halt the plunge in stocks.